Students face several diseases at the beginning of the new school year, such as dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth disease, measles and flu, so epidemic prevention efforts should be strengthened, health experts warned.

The Ministry of Health has issued a warning that the current season, when students gather for the new school year, is the time when the number of hand-foot-mouth disease cases among children is on the rise.

The Preventive Medicine Department in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau has established and trained working groups to deal with dengue fever and hand-foot-mouth disease across localities since the beginning of 2017.

Communicable diseases from around the world could enter Vietnam and spread easily if the country does not improve prevention and control, said Tran Dac Phu, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Medicine Department.